Bernard Schoenburg: $20,000 pay hike after lateral’ move

A year ago, I wrote about a couple of relatives of MIKE STOUT, director of traffic safety for the Illinois Department of Transportation, who also had jobs at IDOT.

Stout’s daughter, CORI PICKETT, now 29, had made what was described as a lateral move to IDOT from the governor’s office, where she was an administrative assistant. She had moved into a vacancy as a technical manager II; her pay was to remain at $27,000.

Well, she’s still a technical manager II, but Pickett now makes $47,554 annually.

Huh?

JOSH KAUFFMAN, spokesman for IDOT, explained it thus:

“The department lost a grievance involving several employees under the personnel job title of technical manager II. The salary adjustment was required as part of a grievance resolution.” He said the grievance was resolved in December.

J.P. FYANS, legal counsel for Teamsters Local 916, said pay for a technical manager II last year was supposed to be at least $43,920 annually. As of Jan. 1, the minimum was raised to $45,720.
“If they bring somebody in (at) below the salary bracket, we’re going to grieve it,” Fyans said. He said the grievance involved a total of seven people who had been brought on under the pay scale for technical manager I and technical manager II positions, and the union won that fight in the December ruling.

Back a year ago, it appeared that VICKIE STOUT, wife of Mike and a longtime state worker, was also on her way to being represented by the Teamsters. But that didn’t happen, and she is not in the bargaining unit. She still makes $74,260 annually. Mike Stout is paid $108,300.

Pickett’s job description, Kauffman said, involves being “accountable for assisting in the overall development and coordination of policy and directives,” monitoring compliance, conducting studies as needed, and providing “assistance to local agencies, elected officials and the general public.”

Mike Stout is the only one of three IDOT officials still with the agency who were sued by several workers who claimed they were fired for political reasons in 2004. A federal jury in Peoria found against the IDOT officials, but the state and the plaintiffs then reached a settlement.

In July, attorneys for the 16 plaintiffs were paid $1.42 million by the state for their work on the case. CARL DRAPER and HOWARD FELDMAN of Feldman, Wasser, Draper & Cox, as well as Springfield lawyer DON CRAVEN, were the main plaintiffs’ lawyers.

“We spent seven years litigating this without any assurance that we would receive compensation,” Feldman said.

Kauffman said the 2004 reorganization at IDOT — which officials there denied was political — saved millions in salary and benefits.

Mock retrial is Monday
That was an interesting cast of characters at the recent mock retrial in Chicago of Mary Surratt, who was executed for helping conspire to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

A Springfield version being held Monday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum has some legal stars, too.

The judge in Chicago was JAMES ZAGEL, who presided at the trial of former Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH and will preside at the trial of Springfield businessman BILL CELLINI, which starts Monday. One of the defense lawyers was ED GENSON, who for a time was on the Blagojevich legal team. DAN WEBB, who is Cellini’s lawyer, was among the prosecutors.

Unlike the real verdict against Surratt — chronicled recently in the ROBERT REDFORD movie “The Conspirator” — the Chicago event resulted in acquittal.

The Springfield retrial at 6:30 p.m. Monday will feature, among others, Appellate Judge THOMAS APPLETON, assistant U.S. Attorney GREG HARRIS, Springfield lawyer CAROL POSEGATE, Urbana lawyer STEVEN BECKETT and BILL DAVIS of the state attorney general’s office. The event will be held in the sold-out Union Theater; however, a few $10 seats were still available Friday for remote video viewing in the presidential library’s multipurpose room. For tickets, call 558-8934.

Lorimor joins Topinka
BARTON LORIMOR, who seemed to be everywhere at the Statehouse last year while an intern for RICH MILLER of Capitol Fax and its associated website, began Sept. 1 as a policy analyst for Comptroller JUDY BAAR TOPINKA. He’s being paid $36,000 annually.

He is leading the comptroller’s transparency project, which seeks to increase the amount of financial information available online, said BRAD HAHN, spokesman for Topinka.

“Barton’s experience with communications and state policy issues made him a natural fit for the position,” Hahn said.

Lorimor, 23, got a double major in journalism and political science from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He credits MIKE LAWRENCE, who taught and was head of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU, and now lives in Sherman, as being “an incredible mentor,” and he calls Miller a “great boss” and good friend.

But the journalism job market is what it is. And Lorimor also is getting married later this month to JENETTE HATCH, a physical therapist assistant at St. John’s Rehab South. The combination enhanced the draw of a steady job.

“It was certainly hard to put journalism aside for now,” he said. “The consolation is, so far I really enjoy what I’m doing.”

Best of luck to the soon-to-be newlyweds.

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.